flowerbinsh's reviews
199 reviews

Back in my freshman year of college, I read bits of this collection for my Ancient Lit class and immediately fell in love with Ovid's poetry. Reading this collection all the way through for the first time was such a beautiful time. Had so much fun picking out the themes and how Ovid uses his own experiences but disguised as myth.

Read as a requirement for my Queer Genre class.

I so wish I could give this book a 3.5 star, as I was originally planning, but I really don't think I can. Let me start off with the positives first, though. I thoroughly enjoyed the time-travel aspect of this novel. It was such a fun little rompy adventure that I could totally get behind, especially with how hectic my world is currently during finals week. I also enjoyed the majority of the characters, especially Chaz. I think he was a perfect addition to the plot, as well as Mrs. Silverthorn. She was a perfect character who had a lot of personality, and balanced out the horrific main character.

On that note, the majority of my complaints, and the removal of  .75 stars, is due to Luis. Firstly, he was an insanely selfish and self-centered character who only cared about the rights of cis gay men before his beloved nonbinary friend, Nix. His reformist views were extremely exclusive to anyone that did not match him when it came to identity. Secondly, the way he presents himself was a problematic addition, in my opinion. His use of AAVE and seemingly weird comments toward Mrs. Silverthorn (a black woman), as pointed out to me and others in my class discussion, were an odd addition with seemingly no repercussions. As this book was written for his daughter of African American descent, it felt weird to include, but maybe it is not my place to say so as a white woman. Thirdly,

the way he treated the characters within the 1985 timeline really grinds my gears. He is constantly trying to make Chaz come out and be his "fabulous" self, but as Chaz is a Black queer teen in the 80s in upstate New York, it is not a feasible thing to expect of him. It is quite literally dangerous for him to do anything outside of heteronormativity, especially at this Christian boarding school with homophobic parents.

 

I personally did not see enough change in Luis' character for me to see this novel as a critique of his character choices. I think Valdes did genuinely try to do so by

making his character at the end less important than he was in the previous timeline and, instead, giving his centered personality to Chaz's character.

I don't think was enough for me personally, though. 

The ended was to quick and easy and happy for me to truly believe a lot of change happened. That being said, I do think this story has a lot of value, but it was not for my personal tastes.

Literally just did not have the time to finish for my Modernist and Contemporary Lit class. 

Read as a requirement for my Modernism class. 

I wrote a whole review and somehow deleted it all, so this may not be as eloquently done as it was last time lol.

I had to fly through this collection faster than I would have liked to in order to simply get it done to move onto other work. I think if I had the time to sit and really soak in the contents of this book, I would have so much more to say and the rating would be higher.

With that being said, I do love the critiques this collections brings up in reference to womanhood, religion, censorship, and how all of those things tie together into one complicated knot. 

I cannot wait to give this a reread in order to fully understand these critiques being presented and how that plays into the history of this book’s publication. 

Read as a requirement for my Queer Genre class. 

Within the first few sections, I honestly didn’t think I was going to like this comic. I’m not huge on extremely graphic content, and I was a little out off by it at first. But I think that’s kind of a part of the point Horn is making. This  uncomfortableness Western culture has surrounding sex and kink between consenting adults is what leads to this dystopian society focused on reformation and the policing of “true” womanhood. While I still don’t think this comic is for me, I loved the concept and the message it has so much that I think it deserves its rating. 

To focus on the actual story, however, I think the plot is a little rushed. I wished we spent more time with the characters’ past and motivations. They feel like plot developments rather than people. I also wish we got a little more world building about how this governmental structure started. What’s the time line? What are important historical events in this fictional world? 

I know there are more volumes, so they could potentially cover all of these questions and concerns, but not everyone is going to continue a series for the sake of answers. These questions should be answered from the beginning, or at least be given a reason for the secrecy so it feels more like a cliffhanger than  neglecting the reader’s experience.

Read as a requirement for my Modernist and Contemporary Literature class.

Honestly, didn’t feel anything toward this play. It was fine. I also don’t think I fully understood what it stands for or the bigger picture Beckett is speaking about. I don’t think post-modernism is something for me.

Read as a requirement for my Modernism class.

Being so real and so honest, I wanted to like this book so much, but I honestly think it flew over my head. I think, knowing the parts I think I understand, that Woods had some important things to say about queerness and gender roles and how the two intertwine, but I just don't think this is the one for me. It felt like it was challenging just for the sake of being challenging. This is definitely the kind of readings people think of when they think of Modernism as a literary trend. 

Read as a requirement for my Queer Genre class.

This book-WOW! I don't even know where to begin with how much I liked this. I was immediately entranced from the beginning with Machado's writing. I've read only one short story by her previously, but as good as it was, I'm not sure if it can compare to how beautifully and dark this novel was written. I loved how Machado incorporated myth, folklore, and even archival resources to speak about her story (almost like an autotheoretical work). As a pagan witch, this was extremely interesting to me. The creativity of the vignette-like chapters was something I found so fascinating and really captures what it's like to relive a traumatic event. 

My favourite section, I think I would say, was the Choose Your Own Adventure. It was something I have never seen before, and I loved the parts that spoke about how the reader was not supposed to be there.

This book will definitely be staying in my shelves for its creativity and how well it captures trauma. 

Read as a requirement for my Modernism class. 

This is not my favourite Woolf I have read. The characters didn't feel as fleshed out as they are in her other works. The chapters where it is just the plays weren't as interesting as the actual characters. This novel (or novella, maybe) just fell flat compared to her other writings. Can't say this was super enjoyable. 

Read as a requirement for my Queer Genre class.

While this is such an important and valuable read for others, for me, it just didn't hit right. There were moments I could relate to that I have never seen verbalized, but I couldn't fully enjoy it, honestly. I wasn't a huge fan of the art style, and I thought that this novel ended quite abruptly. I know it's kind of the point that it's not the end of eir story, but I was sure that some pages were missing when I finished. 

Overall, I would still highly recommend this to others as a valuable read when learning about non-binary identities and one coming to terms with it, but I don't think I quite vibe with it as an artistic piece.